DMV Appointment

I just got a notice in the mail from DMV today stating that my driver license will expire on my birthday (April 28th) of this year. It also says that I have renewed my license via the mail the last two times, and that I'm required to renew it at a DMV office this time.

So, I thought I'd be on the ball and went online to make an appointment today. I've heard that it can take several weeks to get a renewed license in the mail, so I thought I'd make my appointment at my local DMV ASAP.

When I first checked on an appointment in San Francisco, the earliest date was Tuesday, April 12th at 10:30am. I had to double-check to make sure that I read that right - that's like 6 weeks away!

So then, I tried to make an appointment over the phone, thinking that it may get me in earlier. Nope, same date, later time.

After that, I checked for an appointment in Fremont, which is the DMV closest to my parent's house, and where I last renewed my license. Same date....

Hmmm...

I realize that DMVs are notoriously busy places, and I'm thankful for being able to make an appointment, which I'm sure will make a huge difference, but really? 6 weeks?

Vicky!!

My dear and beautiful friend, Vicky is in town for a quick visit and managed to squeeze in time for a afternoon visit with me today.

Vicky was one of my color guard students many moons ago when she was a sophomore at James Logan HS in Union City. We've stayed in touch and have remained good friends ever since.

We were walking around on Castro Street today and stopped in at Cliff's Variety store. (she had heard so much about this store, but had never been in before.) While we were browsing around, I found a gorgeous, bling-y button that I knew would look just fantastic on an old, favorite coat of mine. The coat is a vintage-looking wool cape/coat that I found at a random store of the International Terminal of SFO many many years ago. (but that's a whole other story!) I love the coat, but it had a nice looking, but plastic button (the only one) that never seemed to live up to the quality of the rest of the coat. This button is the perfect size and shape, and is so fun and bling-y - it just seemed perfect.

To top it off, Vicky offered to sew it onto my coat once we got home. Now, I can't sew at all, so it was not going to look pretty if I did it, and Vicky is quite a seamstress! I had to take her up on her offer.

Thanks, Vicky, for the wonderful visit, and for sewing my fabulous new button on my coat! Next time, I promise I won't make you work during our visit together. :)


Vicky showing off the final product

No Snow after all....

I stayed up until 12:30am last night watching for snow which never came. :(

Here's a screenshot from "isitsnowinginsf.com" this morning:

SNOW in San Francisco!!

This is from a web site that has been monitoring whether or not we have snow falling in San Francisco.

All day, it has had one word: "No", until now!!

Apparently, it has started to SNOW in some parts of SF!! I saw a report of snow from the Sunset District. None here in Castro yet, but I'm eagerly waiting in anticipation! I feel like a kid waiting for Santa. :)

Success!!

I made Grandma's steamed fish and Bok Choy tonight for dinner. Served both over brown rice. The fish turned out great (yay!). The Bok choy was slightly overbooked, but still quite good. It makes me so happy to have learned how to make this meal from my Grandma. She'll be happy to hear that my first attempt went well. :)

My Gay Boyfriend at Hand Job

I treated my Christopher to a Mani/Pedi today at Hand Job as a belated Birthday treat. It was nice to have some good quantity time together. We capped it off with a cookie from Hot Cookie.

Thanks for the nice afternoon, Bro! :)

"Awesome as F*ck"

I just got my free t-shirt in the mail for my renewal of my membership to the Green Day Idiot Club (fan club). Seriously, it's the best $20/year I've spent over the past 2 years.

"Awesome as F*ck" is the name of the new LIVE concert CD/DVD that's coming out next month. (Very exciting, by the way!)

When Dick saw the t-shirt he asked if I planned to wear it in public or not.

"Uh, sure"

I figure that if we can have naked men walk around in the Castro, then I will feel just fine walking around in this t-shirt.

I did have to assure him that I wouldn't wear it around our nieces. ;)

Come to think of it, I probably shouldn't wear it in front of my Dad, either. (Sorry, Dad, but at least I never tried to wear anything like this in high school!)

**This blog post us rated PG-13

Snow in SF?!

There's a good chance we may be getting snow in SF for the first time since 1976!

According to this article on sfgate.com snow may be falling (but may or not stick) by tonight!

I remember a few brief minutes of small snow flakes falling in December 1998. It didn't last very long, and certainly didn't stick, so I guess that doesn't count (to the news, at least) as snow on record in SF.

Of course, there's also this day that we had snow in SF in September, 2005, but I'm sure that doesn't count. ;)

It would be so much fun to see some snow in San Francisco!

If it's going to be this cold, we may as well have some snow! :)

Happy Birthday, Bro!!

Today is Christopher's/Spencer's Birthday!! We celebrated this evening with David & Miguel.

Happy Birthday, Bro!
May this year be your favorite one yet.
Lots of Love to you. xoxo

Fun vanity plate

Saw this car while walking on 24th Street today...

Custom Orthotics

I'm back at my podiatrist today having a mold made of my feet. They'll be making a pair of custom orthotics for me to help with my Plantar Fasciitis. Should get them in about a month.

Dinner with Grandma Chow

My Dad and I were lucky enough to have Grandma offer to cook us dinner on Thursday evening. What a treat!

She made a steamed fish (tilapia), bok choy, steamed chinese sausage, half a steamed chicken, and soup. It was really quite a spread for only the three of us!

I often enjoy watching my grandma cook during various family gatherings, but it's rare to have one-on-one time with her in the kitchen. She offered to teach me how to make her steamed fish, so I took notes on that dish as well as her bok choy.

For these recipes, she used two fillets of tilapia, and about 2 lbs of baby bok choy.

Grandma's Steamed Fish:

Drizzle fish with whisky on both sides
Add white pepper
Sprinkle with light amount of corn starch
Mix black bean sauce with soy sauce. Rub onto fish
Top with thinly sliced Ginger
Sprinkle with green onion
Marinate 1 hour
Steam for 10 minutes

Bok Choy

Slice Ginger thinly
Whole (3-5 cloves)smashed garlic
1 tbsp vegetable oil
Cook over med/high heat 2 min
Add Bok choy
Cook 3 min
add Garlic salt
Cook longer (depending on how soft you want the bok choy - maybe 2-4 minutes)
Add more oil (1 tbsp)
1 tsp sugar
Toss
Add 2 tbsp water
Cover
Cook longer til desired softness
3-5 min
Turn off heat
add 1 tbsp oyster sauce


Grandma preparing the fish


the fish as it marinades


(cute) Grandma making the baby bok choy


the steamed fish


Dad and Grandma with our dinner

I'm so grateful for the time that I'm able to spend with my Grandma. I especially love when we are able to have our one-on-one visits. I learn so much from her.

Thank you Grandma! I love you!

The Chinese Bakery

This is half of the counter at the Chinese Bakery in Stockton that my Grandma goes to. Note that we bought the last 3 Don Tot (egg custard tarts) and left the tray empty. :)

Three Chows at Five Guys

I'm in Stockton today, visiting my Grandma with my Dad.

My Dad asked Grandma what she felt like having for lunch. She told us that she hasn't had a burger in a while, so my Dad suggested that we go to Five Guys.

My Dad and Grandma have been before (and like it very much!) but I had not. I'd heard about it via friends on Facebook, but never had a chance to check it out.

The verdict: great burgers! (oh, and the mini size is plenty large!)

OMG

FYI: I just had some additional shelved made for my closets by a company named "OMG".

FWIW, they did a good job, and I was impressed with their service.

OMG, FTW!

(IMHO)

LOL

:)

Oh, Blustery Day

The blustery winds outside are blowing the white blossoms off the trees in our backyard. They look like snow flurries. :)

Danger, Will Robinson!

My sister and Graham gave us a heat lamp as a housewarming (literally) gift. Dick put it together today.

At one point, it looked an awful lot like his was putting together a robot. :)
It made me think of Robot from "Lost in Space".


Dick and Robot


Dick and the new heat lamp

Thanks, Sis and Graham!! Looking forward to using the new heat lamp!

Plantar Fasciitis

What I originally thought might be a bone bruise on my heal, then thought might be a bone spur, turned out to actually be Plantar Fasciitis.

Bummer.

I went to a podiatrist today after my GP referred me there after seeing me yesterday. She thought the soreness that I've been feeling in my right heal for the last three months was probably a bone spur.

My podiatrist took some Xrays, and it turns out that I do have a couple of very small bone spurs. However, the larger problem, and probably the cause of those spurs is actually Plantar Fasciitis

The bad news is that all that walking I did last year took a wear and tear on my feet.

The good news is that my Podiatrist sent me home with lots of things that will help me try to alleviate it.

I've got a foot brace of sorts that I'm supposed to wear at all times, a prescription anti-inflammatory medication to take for at least a couple of weeks, several exercises and stretches, and a suggestion of what kind of insoles I should buy to put in my shoes. I also learned that I need to ice my foot/heal several times a day. Hopefully, all of these things will help my foot heal, or at least prevent it from getting worse.

Here's hoping!!

My Hot Date with Mike

I had such a nice afternoon with my friend, Mike, today.

Mike and I have known each other for more than 20 years now. We first met while living in Dayton, OH way back in 1989.

We had dinner at my place last week (with Philip) and we both expressed our interest in seeing "The Kings Speech", so we planned a date for this afternoon.

The movie was showing at The Kabuki Sundance Theater in Japantown. Philip told us that we had to go there "because you can have drinks!".

Well, we didn't have drinks, but we did get together for a sushi lunch before our 2:00 matinee movie.

The Kabuki Sundance Theater is GREAT! First of all, you can reserve which seat you'll sit in when you buy your ticket. Also, the theater was HUGE! It had an Orchestra as well as a Balcony level. We were the only 2 people in the entire theater until one more patron joined us once the movie had started.

My favorite story of our day was discovering Mike's love of movie popcorn. When we were ordering lunch, he warned me that he didn't want to order too much, because he always buys/eats popcorn when he goes to a movie theater. I told him, "So do I!"

So, we each happily munched on our large-sized theater popcorn throughout the length of the entire movie.

It was such a great lunch/movie date!

Thanks, Mike!!


LARGE Movie Theater Popcorn!


Mike in front of the empty theater


Having fun at the movies!

Summer in February

Dick and I walked over to Pete & Richard's house this afternoon. We're sitting out on their deck, drinking beers (no beer for me), eating chips and salsa, and enjoying this beautiful day. At one point, we realized that it's too hot to sit in the sun. We had to shift all of our chairs into the shade... In February!

PS: finally playing around with the Hipstamatic app on my iPhone. I'm a little late to the game, but it's fun. :)

Warm Night

I woke up in the middle of the night last night, and couldn't fall back asleep.

This is a snapshot of what the weather was at 4:24am. Crazy warm February night!

No doubt, it's going to be a gorgeous day! :)

It's a beautiful day!

...and it's shaping up to be a lovely week, too! :)

Spider-Raccoon, Spider-Raccoon...

...does whatever a Spider-Raccoon does...

The raccoons have moved up the block and found us!

This evening, when Dick came home, he was walking up our to our front door when he saw a raccoon on the sidewalk in front of our house. He watched the raccoon as it turned into a tiny alley on the side of our house, and then proceeded to climb up the side our our house!

We pulled out a flashlight and shined it on him, stopping him in his tracks.


this was taken with my zoom lens


The raccoon scaling up the side of my house

I wouldn't have guessed that we have raccoons here, until a couple of nights ago. I was laying in bed, and heard a, "Gallop, gallop, gallop" across the roof. Our bedroom is in a converted attic space, so the roof is very close. I guessed it was a raccoon, probably going from rooftop to rooftop on our block, since the houses are so close to each other.

Apparently, I guessed correctly, only, I wouldn't have guessed that they could climb up the side of our house!

My 2 seconds of fame today...

There's been an unfortunate series of fires in the Castro over the last 2 days. There were three yesterday - all within 2 blocks of each other, and all within two hours. They are being investigated as arson.

This morning, another fire started - no doubt that this is an attack on our neighborhood.

The house that was set on fire this morning was put out by one of the residents quickly, so it didn't have nearly as much damage as two of the buildings yesterday. The house from this morning is only a few blocks away from my house, and I walked by it on my way down to Muni.



The house that was set on fire (which was put out) on 18th Street

I noticed a news crew in front, and stopped to talk with them about the fires. Vic Lee, a local reporter for channel 7 news asked if I wouldn't mind talking on camera.

Um, okay...

They interviewed me for maybe 30 seconds. Hard to say. Unfortunately, the quote that they used was the one thing that I said that I didn't think was terribly eloquent. Oh well. I guess it gets the point across...


Reporter Vic Lee and the Camera guy

Here's the link to the story online: Castro residents worry after 4th fire in 2 days

and here's the video of the story



The best part of this story was that Vic Lee and I wished each other "Gung Hay Fat Choy" as I left. :)

Good times, great friends, and decadent food!

Had a blast this evening with Mike and Philip. The three of us haven't gotten together in a while, so we thought we'd do it right by dining on Chicago Style Pizza from Patxi's. Bonus: Patxi's delivers! Double Bonus: They will deliver half-baked pizzas so you can finish cooking it at home so it'll be piping hot!


The Pizza - we only ate half! What am I going to do with the rest?!


Mike & Philip posing with Bubbles. "I can't believe I ate that pizza!